If you thought Conor McGregor’s 18-month suspension casting doubts about his UFC comeback next year wasn’t enough, ‘The Notorious’ has now been dragged into another controversy. Boxing veteran Paulie Malignaggi went on an absolute rant against the former UFC double champion while re-igniting their longstanding beef.

Malignaggi believes McGregor is not truthful in what he says, and that the MMA media are playing a vital part in it. It was in 2017 when Paulie Malignaggi’s issues with Conor McGregor started after they trained together for the Irishman’s Floyd Mayweather fight. But the boxing veteran’s recent statements have nothing to do with their past issues.

Paulie Malignaggi is not buying what Conor McGregor is selling

During a fiery exchange with Ariel Helwani on the combat journalist’s self-titled YouTube show, Paulie Malignaggi shared his unfiltered criticism of the MMA media. He claims that the media has enabled people like UFC CEO Dana White and former featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor, in particular, to carry on with their manipulative tactics to build their own brands. “I won’t lump you in with Dana [White], but the same applies to you when you ask Conor McGregor questions. He’s a bulls— artist,” the 44-year-old told Ariel Helwani.

Paulie Malignaggi was as unfiltered with his words as anyone could be, and he further stated on the Helwani Show. “You know he was bulls–tting you, and you just took the responses at face [value], instead of giving, I’m not even saying, a pushback.”

When Ariel Helwani tried to explain that he had not attended a UFC event in years and hardly had any contact with Conor McGregor, Paulie Malignaggi was not ready to buy what the veteran journalist was trying to sell. He just doesn’t seem to have any respect for the way MMA media operates. “You guys in the media are all that guy. I don’t play the media game,” he added.

Malignaggi’s comments about MMA media are not entirely off the mark, either. A month ago, a boxing reporter, Sean Zittel, got into it with Dana White over TKO’s entry into boxing and their proposed changes to the Ali Act. Things got heated to a point where White said Zittel was trying to be an “a–hole.” Now, when was the last time an MMA reporter pushed White to the extent with legitimate questions like that?

The majority of reactions on platforms like Reddit and Instagram supported the reporter against White. Another boxing journalist, Amber Renee Dixon, also had White against the ropes over fighter pay in MMA and boxing. Their questions were not the softballs White is used to at the pre-fight and Contender Series press conferences. So, yeah, Paulie might have a point here. But that’s not all.

It appears that Pauli Malignaggi’s criticism of Ariel Helwani and other media outlets goes beyond just his personal grievance. That’s because the veteran boxer also went off on the MMA fans, taking a swipe at their intelligence level.

Malignaggi is not happy with MMA fans either

Boxing folks don’t really have any love for anything associated with MMA. Veteran promoter Bob Arum once blasted the sport for being too brutal despite creating stars like Conor McGregor. And just recently, when UFC commentator Jon Anik joined Max Kellerman and Andre Ward, clips on social media showed that he did not feel welcomed by the duo on commentary during the Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez matchup. Malignaggi also does not seem to have too much love for MMA, either, especially the fans, because he believes they are not as bright as they think they are.

“MMA fans are not that intelligent,” Malignaggi told Ariel Helwani. “I’ve said that over and over again… If a fan had any level of intelligence past the point of being r——-, they would say ‘Wow, I want to watch the fighter who is the champion at one promotion against the other champion who is in the same weight’. I want to see what that looks like! Just like we do in boxing…[MMA fans] don’t ask for it, because they’re too stupid to know it’s possible.”

Paulie’s gripe here was that we do not see cross-promotional events. To his credit, the UFC’s monopoly and position in the MMA game put them in a place where they can get away with their champions being seen as the best. As a standalone entity, the UFC does well without having to cross-promote. Does that cost us great fights? Absolutely.

There are talents outside the UFC who will have to sign exclusive contracts with the promotion to fight there. Otherwise, we could maybe have seen Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou years ago. We never saw a giant like Fedor Emelianenko compete in the UFC after Zuffa acquired Pride Fighting Championship. But that’s a conversation for later.

As for Maliganggi talking about Conor McGregor, he often comes back with a sharp response on social media. Will he do that this time and reply to Paulie Malignaggi? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime, let us know what you think about the boxer’s comments on McGregor and MMA media in the comments section below.